CHAPTER 6 BY MARK ASHMENT

PHONICS

WHAT? Phonics teaches the relationship

between letters and letter combinations in written language and the sounds in spoken language.

WHAT? Phonics instruction:

- Improves reading and spelling in Kindergarten and 1st grade.

- Improves the ability for students to comprehend what they read.

-Benefits all students regardless of socioeconomic status.

-Effectively helps to prevent reading problems for at risk students.

-Benefits students who are having difficulty learning to read.

WHAT? Phonics instruction must be

systematic. -lessons are organized so that the

alphabetic principle becomes evident. -new skills are built on existing ones.

WHAT Phonics instruction must be explicit. -concepts are clearly explained and

modeled. -requires less inference and discovery.

WHAT There are several approaches to

phonics instruction.1) Synthetic Phonics 2) Analogy Phonics 3) Analytic Phonics4) Embedded Phonics

WHAT? SYNTHETIC PHONICS

Systematic and Explicit. Students learn how to transform

letters and letter combinations into sounds that form recognizable words.

Use short decodable stories or books. Allow a sound/spelling connection.

WHAT? ANALOGY PHONICS Students use a familiar phonogram or

rime to identify an unfamiliar word with the same.

Example: use “ick” in a familiar word to teach unfamiliar words such as brick, trick etc.

WHAT? ANALYTIC PHONICS Identify familiar words. Introduce a sound/spelling

relationship within that word. Students use sound/spelling

relationship in unfamiliar words.

WHAT? EMBEDDED PHONICS Phonics instruction is embedded in

context with reading and writing experiences.

Instruction involves using context clues, pictures, word parts, and first and last letters of words.

WHAT? GOOD PHONIC INSTRUCTION Develops understanding of the

alphabetic principle. Incorporates phonemic awareness. Provides sufficient practice reading

words. Leads to automatic word recognition. One part of a comprehensive reading

program.

WHAT? EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES

Provide corrective feedback. Monitor students. Keep pacing moving to keep students

attentive. Use signals to have students respond in

unison. ( never signal while talking )

WHAT? PHONICS SCOPE AND SEQUENCE

A program should introduce a set of sound/spellings that occur most commonly.

High utility sound/spellings are introduced early.

Sequence from simple to more complex sound/spellings.

Introduce single consonants and short vowels early.

Letters having familiar sounds and shapes should be separated.

WHAT? GENERAL SEQUENCE FOR TEACHING PHONICS

1) Single consonants and short vowels.2) Consonant digraphs.3) Long vowels with silent “e”.4) Long vowels and the end of words or syllables.5) “y” as a vowel.6) “r” controlled vowels.7) Silent consonants.8) Vowel digraphs.9) Variant vowel digraphs and diphthongs.

WHAT? Blending routines. -Do sound by sound. -Do with continuous

blending. Automatic word recognition. Decodable text. Phonograms.

WHAT? WORD WORK FOR ENCODING AND DECODING

Word sorting. Elkonin boxes with letters. Word building. Dictation.

WHY? Through research it has been shown that

phonics is the most efficient way to teach the alphabetic principle.

More effective than no phonics. Reduces reading difficulties in at risk students. Gives knowledge needed for learning to spell. Increases ability for beginning readers and

students with disabilities to comprehend text. Allows readers to focus on comprehension.

WHEN? TO TEACH Can begin as soon as students

recognize the sounds of a few letters. Greatest impact in Kindergarten and 1st

grade. Less effective when used for

remediation. - students must overcome

“habits”. Two years of phonics instruction is

usually sufficient.

WHEN? TO ASSESS AND INTERVENE As soon as reading difficulty is

identified. Assessment should include phonemic

awareness, sound/spelling correspondence, and decoding, and use of nonsense words.

If students have not achieved automaticity by the end of second grade.

HOW? INTEGRATED PICTURE MNEMONICS

Letter sound strategy. Teach/Model. - connect the picture to a letter sound. - make a copy of the picture. - trace the letter and make it into a picture. - write the letter and connect it to the picture name. - review the following day.

HOW? INTRODUCING CONSONANT DIGRAPHS

Phonemic awareness. - use pictures as prompts to sound out words. Teach/Model-----Connect spelling to sound -after modeling sounds, have the students repeat the sounds. Guided practice—Isolate sound. -practice as beginning sound. -practice as final sound.

HOW? INTRODUCING CONSONANT DIGRAPHS

Word work: Picture sort. -sort pictures by those that begin with

the sound and those that end with the sound.

Sound/Spelling—practice for automaticity.

HOW? INTRODUCING SHORT VOWELS

Phonemic awareness. -using index cards, have students repeat each

letter sound in short words containing short vowels. Teach/Model---connect spelling to sound. - using index cards, have students repeat only the

sound of each vowel given. Guided Practice—isolate sound. - using index cards, work with the short vowel

sound as the initial sound. - using index cards, work with the short vowel

sound as the medial sound.

HOW? INTRODUCING SHORT VOWELS Word/Work: picture sort. -using picture cards, have students sort card

by where the short vowel sound is located. Sound/Spelling—practice for automaticity. - practice previously introduced sounds, both

consonants and short vowels, in random order. Corrective feedback. - model correct response if students are

responding incorrectly.

HOW? READING AND WRITING CVC WORDS

Phonemic awareness with letters. - give each student letter cards a,m,p,s,t. - students hold up card matching the

beginning sounds of given pictures. Model---sound by sound blending.. - model/blend each sound of several CVC

words, i.e. mat, pat etc. Use each word in a sentence.

Lead---sound by sound blending. Check---sound by sound blending.

HOW? READING AND WRITING CVC WORDS

Apply to decodable text. Word work: Elkonin boxes with letters. - practice spelling words from their

sounds.

HOW? READING AND WRITING CCVC WORDS

Phonemic awareness with letters. - practice individual sound. - use each sound in complete words. Model---Continuous blending. Lead---Continuous blending. Check---Continuous blending.

HOW? READING AND WRITING CCVC WORDS

Word reading practice for automaticity. - model. - lead. -check. Apply to decodable text. - use connected reading materials. Word work: sound by sound dictation. - Introduce the word. - Count the sounds in the word. - Spell the word by sound. - Compare and correct.

HOW? READING AND WRITING CVCE WORDS

Phonemic awareness. - question students on the middle

sound of words going from cap to cape, from van to vane etc.

Introduce the CVCE pattern. - model---whole word blending. - lead---whole word blending. - check---whole word blending.

HOW? READING AND WRITING CVCE WORDS

Word reading practice for automaticity. - have students sound out words to

themselves then as a whole. Apply to decodable text. - use connected reading materials. Word work: word building. - build words by changing 1 letter of a

word to make new words.

HOW? READING AND WRITING WORDS WITH VOWEL COMBINATIONS

Phonemic awareness with letters. Introduce vowels ai and ay. Model---spelling focused blending. Lead ---spelling focused blending. Check ---spelling focused blending.

HOW? READING AND WRITING WORDS WITH VOWEL COMBINATIONS Word reading practice for automaticity. -pause 3 seconds to allow each student to say each

word to themselves before repeating as a class. Apply to decodable text. -choose books or passages where words are wholly

decodable or familiar. Word work: whole word dictation. -introduce the word. -count the sounds in the word. -spell the word by sound. -compare and correct.

HOW? READING AND WRITING WORDS WITH PHONOGRAMS

Phonemic awareness. -have students practice substituting

sounds to create new words. Introduce the phonogram— ight. -practice with several words. -onset/rime blending.

HOW? READING AND WRITING WORDS WITH PHONOGRAMS

Apply to decodable text. -choose books or passages where

words are wholly decodable or familiar. Word work: word building. -this should be a cumulative review.

HOW? METHOD FOR READING DECODABLE TEXT

Review/Practice irregular words. Introduce the book. -identify title, author, and illustrator. -browse the book. Whole group: read the book one page at a

time. -whisper read. -choral read. -give corrective feedback.

HOW? METHOD FOR READING DECODABLE TEXT

Individual turns: read entire book. -have each student read a couple of

sentences at a time. Respond to literal questions. -encourage questioning. Partners: reread entire book. -partners read entire book to each

other.

CONCLUSIONPhonics allows readers to connect letters

with the sound that they make. This allows them to convert letters to words then to speech and to comprehend their world more fully. Without this connection many students can find the printed word to be somewhat of a mystery, with reading and everything connected to it a monumental task to undertake.